The Nobel Women’s Initiative’s Sister-to-Sister Mentorship Program provides essential training and hands-on skill building for young women’s rights activists. Since launching in 2012 Sister-to-Sister has engaged young women from Mexico, Palestine, Sudan, Burma, Guatemala, Liberia and South Sudan. For six weeks the activists work alongside our team at the Nobel Women’s Initiative to hone their media, communication and advocacy skills. The participants also learn from local activists and experts working in related fields. Following the program, the activists return home to implement their new skills and better promote women’s rights within their country.

Led by Nobel peace laureate Leymah Gbowee, the Nobel Women’s Initiative travels to eastern Democratic Republic of Congo meeting with the extraordinary women activists who work tirelessly to prevent violence and support survivors. Join us as we spotlight the innovative strategies women employ at the grassroots level to advance peace and justice in their communities.Visit the Blog

Each year since 1991, tens of thousands of activists from around the world have taken part in the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence Campaign. The campaign’s central messages – women’s rights are human rights and violence against women constitutes a violation of human rights – have been a rallying call of the women’s movement. For these 16 days, Nobel Women’s Initiative is spotlighting stories about women activists around the globe.

The Nobel Women’s Initiative travels to Liberia to meet with women who are at the forefront of working for peace and reconciliation in the region. Tired of civil war, Leymah Gbowee mobilized women across religious and ethnic divides, eventually forcing warlord President Charles Taylor into exile and paving the way for the election of Africa’s first female head of state. The Nobel Women will bear witness and spotlight the women peacemakers by taking their message to the African Union in the second part of the delegation.

As peacebuilders and community leaders, women around the world have been at the forefront of movements to reduce the impacts of climate change and build healthy, sustainable environments. Breaking Ground: Women, Oil & Climate Change aims to amplify the voices of women on the impact of oil sands expansion as well as their calls for clean, renewable energy.

Nobel Peace Laureates Jody Williams (USA) and Rigoberta Menchú Tum (Guatemala) will be leading a fact-finding mission January 21 to January 31 to investigate violence against women in Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala. They will focus on the unique circumstances of women—including why sexual violence is used as a tool to silence women’s human rights defenders—and the strategies women on the ground are using to end violence in their communities.

For three days over 100 women from around the world – activists, academics, security experts, corporate leaders, and Nobel Peace Laureates – are coming together to forge a new security, and a future free of sexual violence in conflict.

Women activists on the ground in Israel and Palestine work tirelessly every day to build peace and justice in the region. The Nobel Women’s Initiative will visit the region to bear witness to their struggles, creativity, and inspiring work to build a sustainable peace. The delegation will focus on hearing the perspectives of women on both sides of the conflict and providing opportunities for people to come together. We aim to spotlight their strategies for change.

At this year’s G8/G20 we need Canada and the rest of the world to deliver on their pledge to help developing countries deal with climate change, and to make firm commitments to tackle global poverty. The world is watching and waiting.

Follow the Nobel Women’s Initiative as we descend on Toronto with Climate Action Network Canada for the G8/G20.

The first ever Review Conference of the International Criminal Court is being held from May 31 to June 11 in Uganda. The International Criminal Court has the potential to be a powerful tool in the struggle for gender justice – it has criminalized rape as a weapon of war and other atrocities that specifically target women and girls. The Court provides a glimmer of hope to the millions of women who have lived the daily reality of armed conflict and sexual violence.

The International Gender Justice Dialogue will bring together an outstanding group of gender experts, feminist legal theorists, peace mediators, legal practitioners, jurists, women’s rights advocates, policy makers, members of the media, activists, and more. For the first time ever, such a group will identify develop a strategic, shared agenda for advancing gender justice around the globe.

The Tribunal is a women-directed and women-centered justice and advocacy initiative. Judges will hear testimony from several women of Burma who will share their personal stories of surviving human rights violations and crimes under miliatry rule in Burma. Their voices, and the findings and recommendations of the judges, will be directed to the Burmese regime and the international community. The Tribunal will provide a powerful spotlight on the oppression of women of Burma in order to support the development of a just and peaceful Burma.

Some of the testimonials below contain graphic information which can be disturbing. Please join us in demanding that such painful experiences are responded to with justice and solidarity.

There are currently more people living in formal democracies that at any other time in history. Yet women continue to be on the margins of democracy, underrepresented and limited in their ability to exercise their rights and participate meaningfully in the decisions that affect their lives.

This three-day conference in Antigua, Guatemala is bringing together more than 100 women from around the world to examine the challenges of democracy and democratization through the lens of women’s experiences.

The Thai-Burma border, South Sudan, and Chad will be visited this summer by peace prize laureates of the Nobel Women’s Initiative and prominent human rights activists. Why? So the delegation can lend support to women on the ground in promoting messages and ideas about human rights and peace-building in the regions.